


Phantoms

by narukamiyu



Series: Persona Horror [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, Ghosts, Haunted Houses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23421040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narukamiyu/pseuds/narukamiyu
Summary: When Ren and his friends enter a supposedly haunted mansion to fulfill a request made by a friend, they find themselves locked in. As they try to find a way out, they begin to realize that the rumors about the mansion may be true...
Series: Persona Horror [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1684768
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Phantoms

**Author's Note:**

> may tag pairings as they come up later. hope you enjoy!

It said a lot about his friends that they’d be willing to come with him on this trip to the infamous Mementos Mansion, all based on a request made by an acquaintance who’d gone there prior to them because of a foolish dare. Ren had listened to Mishima make flimsy excuses about making a strategic retreat from the mansion, somehow forgetting his backpack in the rush to get out. 

“Could you please just get it for me?” he had pleaded. “It should be in the kitchen. I’m too busy to go back there, you know? Haha!”

Ren was too nice to say no. Still, knowing the ghastly rumors about the mansion being haunted, he’d asked his friends to come along. He felt...braver with them. 

As all eight of them stood in front of the grand wooden doors, they exchanged skeptical looks amongst themselves. Ren tried not to let his imagination get away from him, instead pulling one of the doors open with a grunt. There was no ominous creaking noise or a cold rush of wind from indoors, despite his expectations. Taking a deep breath, he walked inside and took in his surroundings.

It...looked like a normal mansion, not that Ren had been inside many of them. He supposed that was to be expected, considering how ordinary the path leading here had been. The ceiling was high, with a chandelier dangling off of it; the sunlight streamed in through the windows and glinted off the glass. A single staircase led upstairs, where there seemed to be a hallway in both directions. The entrance hall had a few closed doors as well, four if he counted correctly. Somehow, the place didn’t feel as if it had been abandoned for years; the walls weren’t peeling, nor was there dust covering every surface.

“So we gotta find the kitchen, yeah?” Ryuji glanced around the mansion with distaste before heading toward one of the doors on the left. 

“Don’t go off by yourself, Ryuji!” Ann scolded. She quickly followed him, as did the rest. Ren waited as Goro placed a door stopper to keep the front door from closing entirely. When he stood back up, he shrugged with a sheepish smile.

“You never know. While I’m not inclined to believe the rumors, it wouldn’t do for us to be locked in. This is quite an old house, after all.”

Goro was right, as usual. Ren smiled at him, and the two of them followed the group into the next area, which turned out to be the kitchen.

“Got it on the first try!” Ryuji whooped, only to be shushed by Makoto.

“Why are you shushing him? There’s no one here,” Yusuke said plainly, already standing by the refrigerator. He’d opened it and was peering inside.

Futaba was standing next to him, frowning at the fridge. “I’m surprised that this place even has power. It’s like, in the middle of nowhere.”

“Do ghosts need electricity?” Haru asked thoughtfully, and Ren winced as the temperature seemed to drop in the room.

A nervous chuckle escaped Makoto’s lips. “What are you talking about? There aren’t any ghosts...are there?” The uneasiness was painfully clear in her voice. So even she knew about the stories regarding Mementos Mansion.

Yusuke closed the fridge door with a disappointed huff. “Well, if there are, they certainly don’t need to eat. This kitchen seems rather bare.” He eyed the room critically. “I don’t see Mishima’s bag anywhere, either.”

He was right, on both counts. Although there were various cooking appliances on the counter, the kitchen was otherwise pretty empty, though remarkably clean. Ren looked toward the door connecting to the room to the side. “Do you think that’s the dining room?”

Goro nodded and started walking toward it. “That would make sense. Let’s see…” He tried the knob, and the door opened with a quiet _click_. Ren peeked inside to find that it was, indeed, the dining room. It was furnished with a grand table that nearly stretched from wall to wall, with another miniature chandelier decorating the ceiling.

Mishima’s backpack was on the table, right under the chandelier. Ren had a bad feeling about this, but he entered the room anyway. “How could he mistake this as the kitchen?”

“Maybe he didn’t. Maybe someone moved it.”

Ann sighed, shooting Futaba a look. “Don’t _say_ that! Ren, just...be careful, okay?”

She didn’t need to tell him twice. He was already keyed up from the atmosphere of the place. He stood by the table, eyed the chandelier warily, and quickly reached for the bag.

The chandelier _dropped_. Ren managed to retract his hand in time, clutching the bag in his hand. The chair beside him got knocked over in his frenzied movement, and a shriek sounded near his left ear, as well as a yelp to his right. It seemed to have been Makoto and Ryuji, respectively. He wasn’t complately sure; his heartbeat was racing in his ears.

The fact that no one had been hurt by shattered glass made it obvious that the chandelier had stopped right before hitting the surface. Ren pursed his lips and slung the backpack over his shoulders, trying to calm himself.

“Quite the malicious prank,” Goro said, his voice a bit shaky. Ren couldn’t blame him. Either the mansion was about to fall apart, or there was something otherworldly residing in this place. Neither option sounded appealing.

“I’m okay,” he reassured his friends. They were all staring at him with wide eyes, and it was his job to calm them down. “We have the bag, so we can leave. Let’s go.”

Despite being daytime, there was a chill in the air as they hurried toward the door to head back into the hall. The door opened easily, and Ren led his friends out before freezing.

The front door…

“It was open before,” Goro muttered. “You saw me do it.”

Ren nodded mutely as Ryuji rattled the locked front doors with a swear. The door stopper was thrown carelessly to the side, and the sight seemed to be mocking them. 

“I can’t believe this,” Makoto said, staring. “How could we be locked in?” 

Ann was looking around, her face pale. “Maybe there’s a key somewhere in these rooms.” She didn’t seem eager to explore, but she was right. They couldn’t just stand around hoping for the door to open on its own.

Everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion. Haru stepped forward. “I think we should start with the kitchen and the dining room. We should search through them more thoroughly.”

“And we _can’t_ split up, okay? That’s basically what gets everyone killed in horror movies,” Futaba declared. She was pretending to be unaffected by this, but he could tell that the tension was getting to her, too.

“We are not in a horror movie, but I agree that we should stick together. We’ll be much more efficient in communicating that way, and we do not know who or what inhibits these halls.”

“What do you mean?!” Ann asked, her voice a pitch higher than usual. “So the rumors are true?”

Yusuke gave her a confused look. “I meant wild animals, but you may be right as well.”

Ren looked toward the kitchen as his friends debated the existence of ghosts. He could have sworn that he saw a hint of blue…


End file.
